Sim River

This topic has been edited 8-22-2007:
This is an update of how the game is going, but don't expect a lot of information on the game just yet. For the main game, I have decided to use something called MNP (Mother Nature Point) system which will control aspects of the game such as to buy fish, aquatic insects, plants, etc... The system will allow you to control smaller parts of the ecosystem such as: algae growth (to an extent), Small Invertebrates, aquatic insects, etc...

You will control different sections of the river, imagine if you cut the river into a horizontal slice and seperate it into different sections (if you follow me :'?). You will control different sections for a complete feel of the river. Each stage of the game you have to work toward a goal. Each goal will vary from saving a species of fish to getting rid of invasive species.

Sim River will have 3 modes of play: The Main game, Scenario Mode, and Aquarium Mode. The Main game is where you control a river, and play through it's story. The Scenario mode will be like most sims, the main purpose of the scenario mode will be to help you beat the main game (hints, tutorials, etc...). The scenarios will unlock fish, plants, etc... for the Aquarium mode. The Aquarium Mode is fairly self explanatory.

The fish that are in the game are the basic types of native fish (native to the US, Canada, and Mexico). I will also have none native fish in the game, but mostly as invasive fish. The fish will be original, but will still fall into the basic categories.



From Old Topic (I no longer need pictures):
I've been working on a pc game for a few years named "Sim River". I started working on it in 2003 or 2004, and have stopped working on it quite a few times. I have recently decided to start working on it again (and I could use some help, which would speed up the project).

I need help in two areas: Photos of actual fish (I'm going to try and take as many as I can) and information on different fish. I'll explain more about pictures in the next paragraph. I have found a lot of information from the forum itself; other reading material such as books would be helpful if anyone wants to recommend books.

I have decided this time to use actual pictures of fish (I've decided this quite a few times in the past) and animate them myself. How you can help is to take a few good pictures of native fish that are on a list (please look over how disorganized it is) that I've made. This is an example of a decent picture that I could use. The fish need to be laid straight (no turned heads or tails) and it has to be a picture of the side (not from the top or bottom). The fish can't be at an angle or have it's head off to the side. A very good example: Tom Nears photo ; of something that I'm looking for.

Any pictures that people want to provide will be mentioned in the credits of the game (either their real name or user name) along with the name of their fish (if your fish have a name). I'm not wanting to use images that are copyrighted by other people (images that are not yours). I'm not paying anyone for their pictures, but I can advertise your business or your photography if you would like that.

I don't want anybody to accidently kill their fish by trying to take a picture. Which has already happened to my friend who was trying to take pictures of his creek chub

-- The underlined fish (etc...) are needed --
Fish List:
(1) Basic Carp (2) Bluegill (3) Large Mouth Bass (4) Small Mouth Bass (5) Warmouth Bass (6) Rock Bass (7) Black Crappie ( White Crappie (9) Shadow Bass (10) Pumpkinseed (11) Green sunfish (12) Orangespotted sunfish (13) Redbreasted Sunfish (14) Redear sunfish (15) Spotted Sunfish (16) and other types of panfish (17) White Bass (18) Striped Bass (19) Sunshine bass(20) Peacock bass (21) Bowfin (22) Different types of minnows (23) Walleye (24) Musky (25) Pike (26) Pickerel (any type) (26) Flathead catfish (28) Channel Catfish (29) Blue Catfish (30) Bullhead (any type) (31) Lampreys (maybe) (32) Suckers (any type) (33) Trout and Salmon (any type) (34) Darters (any type) (35) Sculpins (36) live bearers (any type) (37) Most any types of natives...

I will probably have pictures of most of these fish before the summer is out, but anyone who wants to help is welcomed. I have a few friends that are helping me currently. It would greatly speed up things if others could help me out, so feel free.

Other List:
(1) Crawdad (2) Turtle (3) Tadpole (4) Frog (small size) (5) Shrimp (I know nothing about the different types of shrimp) (6) other things that you would find in a river... (that would fit in an aquarium).

I have good pictures of helgramites and different nymphs which will be in the game.

About the game:
It's going to be a freeware game, mainly an educational type game. The genre I guess it would fall in would be simulation. In the game you will play as mother nature and you will be able to control different aspects of the river, fish, and other things in the river. It will also feature an aquarium mode (not apart of the main game) where you will be able to raise and breed fish.

More about the game:
I want to try and include an array of fish and other aquatic life that you might find in a river (in the US or Canada). I would like to not use really big fish (mainly because I would like to keep fish sizes in a good ratio) such as gar, or big aquatic life. Since gars can become pretty big, they would not keep a good ratio to small fish, causing poor image quality for the smaller fish.

I'm not proud of my older games, but I have created other types of games. This will be my third simulation game, my first and second were not that great. My first sim you could raise a virtual hamster, it was kinda like a pc Tamagotchi (but with real photos of my hamster). My second sim was a pretty basic fish simulator, you controlled a small mouth bass and you ate to grow bigger (avoiding fish your size and bigger).

Most of my games have been educational and I hardly ever complete an actual game (I have quite a few projects on my desktop currently). I think I have made 10 actual games, not including the countless educational games that I have made (I use to run a free educational website for kids, for 3 years).

I closed my website down after 3 years, mainly because it wasn't very popular. I had only 20-40 uniques a month, which my games weren't downloaded much. I'm going to start my own domain soon (in 3-4 months), I'm not sure about hosting yet.

I'm not sure if I'm violating any forum rules, I'm sorry if I am.

** I have a basic concept of how the game will work, and I'll add that later...
As with most sim games you will be working toward goals, so in Sim River you have to keep a fair balance as life grows. You will control different sections of the river by switching back and forth, now and then keeping things running smooth.

The further you progress, the more things you can unlock (also for the aquarium mode) and use to help deal with enviormental problems. I had the idea of a point system (which you will be able buy and sell fish, plants, etc...), but it's kind of hard for me to explain it without going into a lot of detail.

Do the pictures need to be of full-sized fish? Also do they have to be on a plain background, or can they be in front of plants, driftwood, etc?

Do the pictures need to be of full-sized fish?

I would like for them to be, but it's not real important that they are.

Also do they have to be on a plain background, or can they be in front of plants, driftwood, etc?

It would be easier if they were on a plain background, but they don't have to be. As long as the fish doesn't blend in with the background objects.

Ok. Sweet. I'll send some pics of my warmouth and brown bullhead when I can get some.

I'll get a pic of a big golden shiner for you when I can today or tomorow

Thanks to those that helped me with getting pictures I'll edit the topic with pictures that I need.

I've took quite a few myself in the past few weeks. Feel free to look through my gallery at some of the pictures. My pictures are not that good, if someone can take a better picture feel free to do so.

I'll post a demo in a month with not many fish (thoughts and opinions are very welcomed). I'll edit this post with cutouts of the fish and animations in a few days (and maybe a short demo of how they will swim).

Edit: 6-23-07
It seems that I need better pictures
I tried using my pictures, but they were not as good as I thought.

Thanks to those that helped me with getting pictures I'll edit the topic with pictures that I need.

I've took quite a few myself in the past few weeks. Feel free to look through my gallery at some of the pictures. My pictures are not that good, if someone can take a better picture feel free to do so.

I'll post a demo in a month with not many fish (thoughts and opinions are very welcomed). I'll edit this post with cutouts of the fish and animations in a few days (and maybe a short demo of how they will swim).

Wow, this is an awesome idea! Kudos, and I will definitely be looking to download the demos. Can you pm me when they're ready? That would be much appreciated.

Definitely let us know when the BETA version is ready to test out! I would love to try and I would happily forward the link along to my friends that aren't forum members to try and get more traffic to your site.

Wow, this is an awesome idea! Kudos, and I will definitely be looking to download the demos. Can you pm me when they're ready? That would be much appreciated.

Yeah, sure.

Definitely let us know when the BETA version is ready to test out! I would love to try and I would happily forward the link along to my friends that aren't forum members to try and get more traffic to your site.

Thanks

I'll show everyone my old demo (graphics only demo, not playable) of my game, with better graphics.
You can download it here.
Move your mouse up and down to scroll up and down.

Cool, nice graphics!

Cool, nice graphics!

Honestly, I have no problem with those graphics. Other people that has seen screen shots didn't like them. That's kinda why I would like to use realistic pictures of them. What do some of you guys think about the background color (the river) ?

Ok. Sweet. I'll send some pics of my warmouth and brown bullhead when I can get some.

fishlvr, purge your messages. I just tried to send you a private message, but it bounced because your inbox is full. (Sent items also count against this.) Also, enable e-mail so I can tell you this privately (instead of here publicly).

Black bullhead.

Grass pickerel (IDK if you can use that since the tail is cut off).

Redfin pickerel.

Chad

Don't know how helpful this picture will be.

Green sunfish

Chad

Black bullhead.

Grass pickerel (IDK if you can use that since the tail is cut off).

Redfin pickerel.

Chad

Methinks you've got the grass and redfin switched.

In your photobucket you had a picture labeled Johnny Darter. It's not a Johnny Darter. Depending on where it was taken, it's either a male Rainbow Darter (Etheostoma caeruleum) or a male Mud Darter (Etheostoma aspirigene). Maybe it was just a label and didn't have anything to do with what you were going to call the fish in the game, if so, disregard my comment.

Methinks you've got the grass and redfin switched.

Nope they are right. The redfin was pretty small and the grass is about 8-9". ID'ed by our own boys here.

Chad

Nope they are right. The redfin was pretty small and the grass is about 8-9". ID'ed by our own boys here.

Chad

The fish labeled "grass pickerel", the middle fish, appears to have slightly red fins and brown pattern, typical of a redfin. The fish labeled "redfin pickerel", the bottom fish, appears to have virtually no color in its fins and green pattern, typical of grass pickerel. Am I missing something here?

The fish labeled "grass pickerel", the middle fish, appears to have slightly red fins and brown pattern, typical of a redfin. The fish labeled "redfin pickerel", the bottom fish, appears to have virtually no color in its fins and green pattern, typical of grass pickerel. Am I missing something here?

Since I know where both of the fish came from, his ID's are correct. Not all redfin pickerel have red fins, and some grass pickerel have red-er fins than actual redfin pickerel. There is a reason why they are both Esox americanus.

Since I know where both of the fish came from, his ID's are correct. Not all redfin pickerel have red fins, and some grass pickerel have red-er fins than actual redfin pickerel. There is a reason why they are both Esox americanus.

Okay.